Advancements in mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) research are shedding light on how these stem cells may someday be used in various clinical applications, including immunomodulatory therapies and cell replacement therapies for mesenchymal tissues such as bone and cartilage [1,2]. For more than a decade, we have provided key resources to address challenges in MSC research. Designed to work together, our portfolio of GIBCO® stem cell products and services supports and accelerates the path to discovery.

Mesenchymal Stem Cells: A Small Population With Big Potential

MSCs, also known as adult stem cells, were recognized by Dr. Alexander Friedenstein and colleagues in the 1970s as a population of fibroblast precursors located within the bone marrow [3]. By the 1980s, these cells were found to be capable of differentiating into adipocytes, osteoblasts, and chondrocytes [4]. Today, this mesodermal lineage is found to include tenocytes, myoblasts, and even neural cell types, all of which share the potential to impact research in basic biology, cancer biology, genomics, drug discovery, and cell therapy.

It is estimated that human MSCs constitute just 0.0001% to 0.01% of total bone marrow nucleated cells, and as a result, they require robust in vitro cell culture expansion to obtain sufficient numbers for basic research and clinical applications. The GIBCO® brand provides the broadest selection of cGMP-compliant complete culture systems for MSCs, many of which are free of animal-derived components. Our diverse portfolio of MSC culture systems includes serum-containing, reduced-serum, serum-free, and serum-free/xeno-free formulations.

Figure 1. MesenPRO RS™ medium maintains global mRNA expression of MSCs. MSCs were grown for three subpassages (at 3 x 103 cells/cm2 per subpassage) in MesenPRO RS™ Medium or DMEM + 10% FBS, total RNA was isolated, and then mRNA expression was assessed using Illumina BeadArray™ technology. Data were analyzed using Illumina BeadStudio software; a pairwise comparison of the two samples is represented as a scatter plot. Genes with greater than 0.99 detection units are in blue; points lying outside the red lines represent genes with greater than 2-fold differences. The R2 correlation of 0.94 indicates similar gene expression patterns between MSCs grown in the two media types.

Figure 2. hMSCs grown on CELLstart™ CTS™ substrate–coated dishes in StemPro® MSC SFM exhibit a 166% improvement in expansion over 10 passages compared to classical medium. Average net total cell number per T25 flask was calculated for human MSCs growing in StemPro® MSC SFM and classical medium (n = 3). Cultures were grown with a seed density of 1 x 104 cells/cm2, a split frequency of 3 days, and a medium change every 2 days.

Lipoproteins play a critical role in the regulation and maintenance of cellular growth and metabolism. StemPro® LipoMAX™ is a human-derived lipoprotein-based cell culture supplement for MSCs and adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs). Addition of StemPro® LipoMAX™ supplement under serum-free conditions can improve expansion of ADSCs by ~50% after 3 passages (Figure 5).